They Say it's Destiny
by BeautyInTheLibrary
Summary: AU Series Arthur Pendragon was a man of routine, he had a pattern he would follow everyday. There were just things that he simply did every single day that it would make him itch if he missed them. And then is favorite barsita hands him a coffee with a name that clearly had to be a joke. Methur Coffee Shop AU
1. Chapter 1

Took the Wrong Coffee AU- Methur

Arthur Pendragon was a man of routine, he had a pattern he would follow everyday. There were just things that he simply did every single day that it would make him itch if he missed them. The random changes of the day to day never really threw him, he was always ready for a challenge, but there were small things that he just had to do or his day would not be even nearly as productive.

His mood would go south if he didn't get to stare into space for at least half an hour every morning after he's woken up. Arthur always had to wake up that extra half hour, but it was worth it to wake up properly. All the while sipping his coffee with just the right amount of creamer and maybe some music playing on the radio in the back ground. The quiet never really did his mind any good.

He always had to keep a list of what he needed to do, other than the obvious; pick up some milk, send that thank you card to Morgana or she would give him the stink eye for at least a month and if he had time pick up his suit from the dry cleaners. He really should get a personal assiant, but they were all such annoyingly boring people and never lasted long. With every task he wrote down and completed, he got to cross it out and it gave him an odd feeling of satisfaction.

There was one thing that he simply had to make time for during his lunch break and that was going to the local coffee shop around the corner from his office. It wasn't a national chain and was so close to being a ma and pa shop that it had that homey atmosphere that Arthur wasn't used to. His childhood home was cold, closed off and fake. It looked like a modern decor magazine spread more than a home where people would actually live in. So it gave Arthur great comfort as he relaxed from trying to run the business his father would one day hand over to him.

Every day, half past one o'clock, Arthur Pendragon would walk into the rich aroma filled shop, he would pause a moment to breath in the delicious smells coming from behind the counter. He briefly glanced around to find himself a spot to relax after he gathered his order, he couldn't control getting the same table every time. He wasn't god.

Not yet.

Arthur chuckled to himself as he walked up to the counter, a charming smile at the ready as he saw the familiar Batista working today, as she usually did on his lunch breaks. The dark skinned girl returned the smile, she was well aware of Arthur's little habit with keeping to routine and teased him about it constantly.

"Arthur, two whole minutes late, what on earth could have happened? I thought you must be dead." She couldn't help but grin at her most loyal customer as he gave her the usual 'don't be ridiculous look' he gave when she was being very dramatic.

"Very funny, Guinevere." Arthur rolled his eyes as he she began to laugh, he was really the only one that used her full name so often.

"Let me guess, you'll have the mocha macchiato iced and a maple pecan scone?" Gwen rose an eyebrow, she knew that was exactly what he was going to order, but it was simple teasing revenge for Arthur catching her kissing her boyfriend Lance the last time he stopped in. He teased her about how it was probably not very sanitary to make out against the cappuccino machine. Which they were NOT! Just…next to it…very close.

"Yes, if you would be so kind." Arthur replied, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "I was thinking of getting a cappuccino today, it was getting cold but…the last time I saw the state of the machine…" He trailed off, laughing as he had to back up to avoid a swat.

Unfortunately, there happened to be someone in line behind him and he ran right into them. The man behind him stumbled back, nearly crashing into a stand displaying ground coffee bags and coffee cups that could given as gifts. Arthur's sharp reflexes kicked into action and had caught the dark haired man right before disaster stuck, he wouldn't have enjoyed paying for all those broken mugs.

"Sorry, mate, I didn't see you there." Arthur breathed in relief that nothing completely terrible happened.

"'Slright, that was some fast movin'." And the blond man was blinded by a bright grin, the man ruffled his own hair as he was checking himself for some kind of damage out of habit. "Um..you can let go now, if you like."

"Huh?" Arthur blinked, looking down seeing he still had a grip on the man's arm still. "Oh, right, yea." He manged speech at least as he let go, he was thrown off by the other man's smile, it was like being slapped in the face with cheer.

A throat clear brought Arthur's attention back to the counter, Gwen looking far more amused than she should by what just happened. "Here's your scone." She said, handing the blond a bag with his pastry.

"Oh, right." He handed over the correct amount of money, adding most of his change into the tip jar as he usually did before he went to find a quiet table to sit at so he could shamelessly scroll through his social media sites on his phone and rinse is brain of the monotony that had been his day in the office.

Gwen was by a while later with a tray filled with different kinds of drinks in plastic cups, thermoses and classic coffee shop mugs. She sent him a smiles in thanks for her tip, as she always did, setting down his drink and telling him to stay out of trouble. He never did, but she liked to think he was the trouble getting into type. She was right of course, but now that he was out of school he couldn't really stray from the line like he once did and had to toe that line or surely his father would burst a blood vessel.

Arthur was casually scrolling through his facebook, checking up on what Morgana was doing, that girl would never stop bemoaning little things in her status updates and really it was amusing. He laughed over something she said about Uther's last office party, good thing the old man couldn't use the computer to save his life. He was just about to take a drink of his sweet coffee when he noticed the name written in neat feminine handwriting.

Merlin

"Very funny." Arthur muttered, looking at the counter where Gwen had returned to taking customer orders. He had on one occasion mentioned to her how much he used to love the Arthurian legends when he was a kid and watching all the movies. It was part of the reason he liked to use her full name and tease her that her boyfriend Lance was betraying him by stealing his queen from him. She loved it and played along most days, telling Lance all about it, he didn't mind but seemed a bit uncomfortable for someone who hardly even knew Arthur.

He picked up the drink, walking over to the counter when there was no more signs of patrons coming in. Arthur placed the drink down and rose a brow at Gwen. She looked at the drink, then back up at Arthur, finally confusion coming to her features as he said nothing.

"What?" She finally asked. "Is something wrong with it? It doesn't even look like you drank any."

"Oh come on, Guinevere. You know what." Arthur laughed under his breath as she continued to stare at him confused. "The name."

Gwen gave him another puzzled look before turning the cup to see the name. "oh."

"Yes, 'oh'." Arthur smirked lightly. "Very funny, that's definitely a new one."

Gwen didn't look like she just pulled joke on him, she more looked like she was tad embarrassed if anything. She quickly went around the counter, Arthur watched her confused as she went up to that dark haired man from earlier's table. She spoke to him quietly, pointing at his cup.

The man looked at her unsure what she was talking about, pulling out his head phones and Gwen had to explain again. This time the man looked at the cup he'd be casually sipping from while reading his book and turned it and laughed.

"Very funny, Gwen." It was starting to catch on that response. "Has my king finally appeared in a coffee shop ready to lead the army?" He laughed, it was pleasant sound, filled with innocent mirth.

Arthur decided to join them, seeing as Gwen had just abandoned him at the counter. The man looked up at him surprised, his eyes a dark blue, like the sea during a storm. His face was very open and all his expressions as plain as day painted over his features. Now that Arthur had a moment to notice, he wasn't half bad to look at. High cheek bones that anyone would envy, pale skin stretch over them and he couldn't see from his baggy clothes, but Arthur was sure he was skinny all over if those long slender fingers were anything to go by.

Arthur cleared his throat awkwardly, accidentally staring and turned to Gwen who looked like she had just heard the best joke in the whole world and was about to tell it.

"Gwen? Any reason you just dashed off? Did you do something else to my coffee I should know about?" He asked, not that he thought she had.

"No, no, I was just making sure Merlin had gotten your coffee after all. I didn't even notice you both got the same thing." She giggled.

"Merlin?" Arthur questioned, had that joke not died already?

"Yes mate, can I help you?" The dark haired man, claiming to be Merlin, asked him, quirking up a dark brow. Something in his eyes twinkled with mischief.

Arthur just stared at him a bit more, not sure what to make of that.

"Arthur." Gwen looked close to bursting into a fit of laughter. "This is Merlin, Merlin, my regular, Arthur." She let a suppressed laugh pass her lips making a odd noise.

"You are kidding me." Both men accidentally said in unison.

"This is faith….Destiny!" Gwen clapped her hands together, as if she was excited she got to be part of this. "Oh shoot, I have to go back." She cursed, Gwen fetched Arthur's coffee from the counter and returned it to him, nudging him towards Merlin's table's empty seat. "Get to know each other at least!" She encouraged before dashing back to her station to tend to the costumers that just came in.

"Do you, er, mind?" Arthur awkwardly gestured to the empty seat. Merlin pushed it out with his foot under the table, a clear sign of permission.

"Of course not." Merlin's lips quirked up into a small smirk. "Sire."

"Sassy for a mage." Arthur laughed, taking the seat across from him. He noticed that Merlin hadn't bothered to check the name on his own cup, having drank a good amount of it already. So the blond decided he would do the same with his own.

The sweet cold taste slid across his tongue and down his throat, there was just something about that particular sensation that he loved and couldn't find at any other coffee place. He focused on his lingering sip as he saw Merlin studying him from across the table, his eyes looked like there was so much going on behind them. Maybe if Arthur knew him better he could guess, but it was just so hard to read and the growing smirk was a little unsettling.

"So, my lord," Merlin said, rather sarcastically. "What brings you out to our humble little cafe`?" The dark haired man asked, starting basic conversation.

"Hmm, yes, what on earth could I want inside a coffee shop?" Arthur fake pondered a moment. "Obviously I wanted some fish and was sadly disappointed." Merlin wasn't the only one fluent in sarcasm.

The man across him grinned widely, taking no heat from his words, he seemed to actually enjoy that Arthur shot back without missing a beat. He laughed softy under his breath, nodding along.

"Obviously." He murmured. "It's not everyday that you meet someone who's name matches your parents obsession."

"Ah, your too then? Well I mean, it's not like that's surprising." Merlin's brows rose. "My father's name is Uther and my sister's name is Morgana." He clarified, grinning as Merlin's expression brightened even more.

"You are kidding, that is just not true. You and Gwen are just taking the piss." He was trying to hold back laughter just like Gwen had before, but was not doing nearly as well as her.  
"I speak the truth."

"This is just too much, this may be the best day I've had all year." Merlin laughed, leaning back into his seat. "If you haven't pretended to be a knight as a kid or made a crown out of something we simply cannot be friends."

"I guess friends it is, because I was a knight in plastic armor for so many Halloweens." Arthur grinned. "If you've worn the pointy hat I will lose respect for you."

"God no!" Merlin cried a little too loudly, leaning back into table, resting his arms tucked in against his chest as he moved forward. "I never liked that version of him, I have worn the long robes and tried to learn magic tricks though." He grinned, as if that was something to be impressed by.

"Were you any good?"

"Completely rubbish."

That was the start of a beautiful friendship. They spent the next few hours talking about Arthurian things this and that, finding that each had friends that could so pass a knight of the round table if you squint. The conversation moved from one topic to another, the questions you end up asking any time you meet a new person. Merlin was a great story teller, with such vivid and honest expressions and flailing his long arms around, it was quite a show to watch as he described stories from his childhood.

It wasn't until Arthur noticed his pocket vibrating out of control that he realized his phone was ringing and finally checked the time.

"Oh my god…" He shut his eyes with a small groan, pulling out his phone and answering. "I know, I'll be right there." He hung up and he was very tempted to slam his face into the table.

"What's happened?" Merlin asked curiously, tilting his head.

"I may have…accidentally taken a three hour lunch break." He smiled sheepishly, watching Merlin's eyes widen and fill with guilt.

"Oh, Arthur! I am so sorry! I hadn't meant to keep you! I had no idea!" Arthur held up a had to stop his ramble.

"Don't be, I should have watched the time better. I'm usually better at being aware of when it's time to go." He thought that it was odd, even when he spoke to Gwen on her breaks or anyone he ran into, he could feel when the time was up. He was usually able to know right when it was five minutes before it was time to go and when he was talking to Merlin, he had even forgotten they were in a coffee shop meeting for the first time.

"Better go before they fire your arse." Merlin joked, but it sounded strained like he hoped that wouldn't actually happen.

"Hard to fire the son of the owner of the company." Arthur laughed, enjoying the shocked look on Merlin's face. "But I ought to go either way." He stood awkwardly, he didn't really feel like going back to the office. The good coffee and conversation had left him sedated and relaxed, work sounded like it would ruin that great feeling.

"Right." Merlin rose also, sticking his hand out to shake. "It was great meeting, maybe we'll ruin into each other again."

Arthur shook the offered hand, surprised Merlin's grip was so firm and sure. The dark haired man was probably stronger than he looked, the blond thought vaguely.

A sudden thought occurred to him, though he didn't know why. "Merlin, what did you say that you did?"

"Uh." Merlin blinked confused, not sure he had mentioned it at all. "I work a few shifts here, actually, but the owners can't give me many." He shrugged.

"How are your typing skills?" Arthur rose a brow as a brilliant idea came to him.

"Fabulous, why?" Merlin was really starting to get curious where this was going, besides, wasn't Arthur supposed to be leaving?

Arthur finally let go of the other man's hand, completely forgetting he was holding it. It felt far too natural in his own he thought it had always been there. He pulled out his wallet, slipping a business card out of it's slot and giving it to Merlin who took it with nothing but questions written all over his face.

"Come by my offices around five, I think I can get you a better job, the pay is good and the company is even better." Arthur grinned, Merlin starting to see where this was starting to go.

"Are you serious?"

"I was just thinking about it before I got in and look at that, you would do great." Arthur shrugged, he wasn't exactly sure about that, but he wouldn't be bored if Merlin was the one helping him out in the office. He may have only known him for a few hours, but he could sense it. Anyone able to throw him off schedule without making him want to go crazy must be good for him.

"Well…no harm in coming in." Merlin nodded, as if deciding. "Yea, alright, I'll come by." He grinned brightly.

Arthur smiled, he was really going to have get used to that blinding smile that came with that mop of unruly black hair, that gorgeous pale skin and that very sassy attitude. He had no doubt he wouldn't, but he wouldn't might.

"I'll see you then, I guess." Arthur said, heading to the door, pausing just before he went out, he turned back to Merlin, still holding the card with both hands looking back at him. Their eyes met and something in the air just sparked, Arthur could feel it. "It really must have been destiny." And with that he left, back to his offices, but he knew he wouldn't be so bored in the future.


	2. Ask and you will Receive

"Merlin, you complete imbecile."

"It's not my fault!"

"How did you start a fire, sending a fax?"

"As if I am responsible for your horrible office equipment!" Merlin protested.

It had been an entire month since Arthur had a chance encounter meeting the man named after a magical man in his favorite coffee shop. Merlin turned out to be the best of best friends but the worst personal assistant that he has ever had. It wasn't that he couldn't follow orders or completes the tasks; it was just sometimes it was as if the man was cursed. Also clumsy, that boy served coffee before this and now he was getting it all over Arthur's nice shirts.

Arthur would have fired him by now if he wasn't so damn entertaining though. Merlin did get things done when it came to the important things, so really it was worth keeping him around. Besides, there was just something about Merlin that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Just forget it, Merlin." Arthur sighed; he too tired to deal with this right now. He would kill for a cup of decent coffee, the office coffee was brewed from dirt he just knew it.

Merlin looked at him concerned, sure they were friends, but Arthur could fire him any second. He was really trying, he liked this job! It wasn't too terrible and his boss wasn't a prat all of the time. Just sometimes, when he didn't have enough caffeine for example.

Oh.

Merlin grabbed his jacket quickly, slipping it on and was out the door before Arthur finished a yawn.

"Merlin! Where are you going?" Arthur called after him, but the other man didn't stop or act like he heard. "Get back here!" But it was too late, he was gone.

"What the hell." Arthur muttered to himself.

He wasn't too harsh on him was he? Merlin knew him better than that by now right? He wasn't actually that mad, it was just all these back to back meetings and having to deal with that slimy Cenred. Playing nice with a creep who thought it was alright to undress his staff with his eyes and making horrid passes at a certain assistant. It was driving him up the wall and the coffee was shit. Did he mention?

Arthur plopped down in his chair, rubbing his face as he sighed. This was working out so well with Merlin; he never had someone who it was so easy to talk to. Someone that would call him out on his shit, give him proper honest opinion and praise. He was something else, never tip toed around him. Arthur found it refreshing, felt like a human being for the first time. Not the son of the CEO, not his title, around Merlin he was Arthur. The prat.

Slowly his hands fell from his face as a strange feeling settled at the bottom of his stomach. Merlin couldn't be mad enough to just have up and quit right? Merlin was very vocal about things; surely he'd scream about quitting and make a scene.

Just around the corner from the office building, though, at the local mom and pop coffee shop, Merlin was up to something completely different. His boss had been stretch thin and he couldn't believe he didn't notice earlier. To be fair Merlin had been keeping a certain rival company president from putting his hands down his pants. That Cenred was such a creep.

"Merlin! What a surprise seeing you here so late. Where's Arthur?" Gwen greeted him.

Even after Merlin stopped working the few shifts he got at the coffee shop to work with Arthur, they saw each other all the time. Arthur always brought Merlin with him on his usual coffee breaks. A few times Merlin caused there visits to be different times than Arthur was accustomed to going, it drove the blond bonkers but Merlin thought it was the greatest thing to watch.

"He's still back at the office. He needs a major pick me up." Merlin told her, explaining how mood his boss has been and all the crap he's been dealing with.

"Merlin…how did you manage to set fire when sending a fax?" The barista asked, finishing up their order.

"How is it my fault that the office equipment is faulty?!" He defended, really, it was the dumb fax's fault and no one was looking into that angle.

Gwen laughed as she put the coffees into their traveler tray. "Of course, Merlin." He stuck his tongue out at her and took his order, thanking her for the extra espresso shot. He should have thought of that.

"You know Merlin~ If you really want to give Arthur a pick me up~" Merlin used his free hand to cover her mouth, shushing her.

"Gwen, darling Gwen, shhh, no. None of those silly things again." He cooed at her. "You need to calm yourself, honestly." She giggled against his hand till he pulled away.

"You will see it like the rest of us soon enough Merlin, just you watch. And you'll owe me twenty bucks."

"Psh! When did we make that agreement?" He argued. Lately Gwen and even Lance! Of all people. Started getting the wrong idea of what kind of relationship Merlin and his boss had. They were friends that worked together. And went to dinner after work, it was just convenient. They might also hang out on weekends, go to bars and such; they were more friends than boss and employee. That was totally normal. Right?

"Oh please, like you had a choice. Now off you go before he gets even crankier." She shooed at him, with one more tongue out gesture he went on his way.

Merlin was sure Arthur would really enjoy this surprise; he loved this coffee way more than the piss they brewed in the office. Come to think of it, did Merlin even say he was going out?

Merlin stopped in his tracks. Oh god. He just ran out of the office after they had a dumb argument with no reason. He slapped his forehead with his free hand, he was so stupid, and no wonder Arthur always called him an idiot. Who know what Arthur thought he was doing! He was going to get fired for sure now!

With that in mind, Merlin rushed the rest of the way back to the office.

Arthur on the other hand, had tried calling his missing assistant, but Merlin had seemed to have forgotten his phone. Which left him with little else to do but sit there and wonder what to do next. He couldn't just go to Merlin's apartment to see if that's where he went and tell him not to quit. How pathetic would that look?

Deep in his thoughts, Arthur jumped startled in his seat when a travel tray full of coffee was plonked on his desk in front of him. That all familiar laugh ringing in his ears as his eyes darted up to see the missing Merlin had returned.

"You went to get coffee?" Arthur stared at him dazed.

"Of course I did, I told you that, clotpole." Merlin lied, avoiding his eyes as he picked up his own coffee to take a sip and walk over to his own desk.

"You most certainly did not. You set fire to the fax machine and then fled without a word." Arthur argued, getting up, grabbing his coffee on his way to Merlin's desk.

Merlin was in full protest swing till he watched Arthur take his first sip of coffee, eyes shut in completely rapture. He always thought it was amusing and cute the way Arthur took simple pleasures like that. When Arthur opened his eyes again, Merlin had his mouth hung open in mid-speech and staring at him.

"What?" Arthur asked, putting his coffee down on Merlin's desk.

"What?" Merlin parroted as he blinked, realizing he didn't say what he had meant to. "I said! I didn't start that fire, faulty faxer! And secondly, I did say, you just weren't listening." He huffed, picking up some random papers to busy himself, feeling heat rising up his neck.

"You are by far the worst lair I have ever met in my whole life, Merlin." Arthur chuckled, shaking his head before he went back to enjoying his caffeine fix.

Merlin huffed again, taking down a few notes and adding some things on his to do list. He had a few meetings to schedule, though he was going to make a few calls to see if he could push them back so Arthur could get a breather. Merlin was getting so busy in his planner that he checked out enough to not notice Arthur watching him.

"Thank you." Merlin dropped his pen startled, looking up at Arthur, who was still on his desk; prat was all on his papers.

"What?" Merlin must be having a stroke and hearing things, no way Arthur Pendragon had just randomly thanked him.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "You heard me, idiot."

"Prat." Merlin shot back, grinning. "You are very welcome." He said, adding a few more things to his list. "I know you've been working hard the last two weeks and needed a pick me up."

A soft smile slipped on the blond's face, he was actually touched by that, even if it was just a simple gesture. Without realizing it, he had started reaching out for Merlin, the urge to just touch him or cup his face nearly overwhelmed him. Arthur caught himself and pulled himself off the desk, clearing his throat awkwardly before moving to his desk.

"Yes, well, again, you know…yea." He mumbled, swiveling around in chair when Merlin looked up at him confused, catching that amused twitch before he faced the window.

"What was that? Were you trying to use words there, Arthur?" Merlin teased.

"Shut up, _Mer_lin."

"Whatever you say, sire~" Merlin teased again, a nickname he liked to use when Arthur got a bit haughty with him. It had been their inside joke since they met.

A comfortable quiet settled over the office space, only Merlin's pen scratches or Arthur tapping on his laptop making any noise. This happened often between them when they actually get down to work or planning, it was nice. Which is saying something; Arthur loathed silence and could never stand it being so quiet before Merlin. He usual had some music playing real low or opened the door to hear the rest of the office floor making the little noises every office made.

Merlin stretched in his seat, checking the time. Past clock out was nothing new, but he knew for a fact Arthur has only eaten a bagel for lunch and who knows if he had anything more for breakfast. Sometimes Merlin wondered if he was more of Arthur's wife than his personal assistant. At least a wife gets to…well, it's better not to finish that thought.

He got up and threw away his now empty coffee cup and the tray, straightened up his papers for tomorrow and slipped a page of his list to make a few calls on the way into work into his pocket. He did a little bit of cleaning up, which finally got Arthur's attention. Merlin was pretty used to him watching him as he moved around the office; Arthur had this thing about looking at movement.

Merlin had to take Arthur's coffee from his hand, the blond trying to savor the last drops at the bottom of the cup, making that annoying sucking noise with his straw before it was taken from him. He certainly did not pout when Merlin threw it out, especially since he missed and had to bend over to pick it up. Curse those tight fitted Dickie's pants.

Arthur cleared his throat and tried to refocus on the memo he was reading over that Merlin typed out to be sent out first thing tomorrow. Well he tried, but Merlin pushed it shut.

"Hey!"

"Hello yourself." Merlin countered. "It's pasted eight and you need to eat."

"Merlin, you are not my mother.

"No, I'm your wife." Merlin muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What?"

"What?" Merlin sputtered, turning bright red, not believing he just said that out loud.

"Would you stop doing that? Did you just say-

"So anyway we should go grab something to eat!" Merlin cut him off, pulling the blond out of his chair to his feet. "Do you feel like fast food or a sit down? I could care less at this point, I am starving, and you just had to rush through lunch." He rattled on to change the subject.

Arthur rolled his eyes, grabbing Merlin by the shoulders and giving him gentle shake. "Merlin, you're doing that thing again." Merlin blinked, confused. "That thing where your mouth is open and all this noise starts coming out."

"Prat!" Merlin frowned.

Arthur chuckled. "Cute." He murmured, pausing, blinking.

"What?" Merlin squeaked.

"What?"

"Oh come off it Arthur!" Merlin quipped. "Did you just call me cute?"

"I…might have…" Arthur said slowly, looking very cautious like Merlin might go off on him any second.

"You think I'm…cute?"

"I…uh…" He cleared his throat, again, letting him go, as if the moment wasn't awkward enough. "I need more coffee; I'm obviously not talking any sense right now."

So much for that, Merlin thought, not that he should have expected much else. Arthur wasn't very good at this whole expressing things, when it came to anything remotely emotional, he just shut down.

"Right…" Merlin muttered, not sure why it disappointed him so much. Arthur was his boss, he should not even be thinking of him that way.

Arthur frowned, sensing Merlin's displeasure at this answer, but certain he couldn't possibly…I mean, not the way they got along most of the time. What a time to find your insecurities, Pendragon, he chastised himself.

"I may have." Arthur quickly amended.

Merlin looked up at him confused. "What?"

"Imayhavesaidyouwerecute" Arthur rushed, feeling heat rise to his cheeks, how embarrassing, why was he doing this? Oh right, cause right now Merlin was smiling that blinding smile he does when he's genuinely pleased and amused. That was worth anything really.

"Mind saying that in something closer to English?" Merlin was definitely enjoying this more than he should be.

"I said, I may have said you were cute." Arthur said through gritted teeth, he was no longer able to look Merlin in the eyes. He could still tell the dark haired man was grinning it up anyway.

"You don't look too bad yourself, even if you can be a prat sometimes."

Arthur looked back at him, was…was Merlin flirting with him? Impossible. Wasn't it?

Oh, but the look in those dark blue eyes, they were sparkling. It was so easy to lose yourself in them and that is exactly what Arthur was doing like some teenager with their first crush noticing them.

The gleam changed to something absolutely playful in an instant, those full lips tilting up in a smirk.

"Arthur? If you are gonna stare like that, I might get the wrong idea." He teased, Merlin had always been a tease.

"Wha.." Arthur snapped out of it, realizing he was leaning towards the other, way to be professional. With a small clear of the throat and awkward step back. "I'm sorry, that was completely-"

"Arthur, if you back out, you will not be getting another chance later."

He couldn't believe he just heard that, Merlin was definitely flirting now and if that wasn't the most flat out invitation he has ever heard.

"Are you serious?" Arthur blurted, he was startled, and he couldn't help it.

Merlin shifted his weight from one side to the other nervously, his cheeks quickly turning bright red; it was even creeping up to his ears. Adorable.

Well, what he was supposed to do with that? Sure it was an open invitation, but he couldn't find brain function to even move let alone come up with an action plan.

Merlin grinned. "Adorable." He muttered, before leaning forward and giving Arthur a quick peck on the cheek, looking away shyly after.

Arthur's brain kicked into gear after that, he gently took a hold of Merlin and pulled him closer. Their eyes connected and just like the first time they met, there was just this spark, this something that happened between them. The moment felt unreal, like they left the world as they shared the air before their mouths slid together like they found their other halves.

Fingers grasped, gathering fabric and bodies pressed together. They were no teenagers, but those fireworks in their heads had to be real, it was unreal and almost too ridiculous.

When the kiss ended, they started at each other what felt like for ages, but only seconds in reality. It settled in that it had actually happened and they both cracked smiles as they laughed under their breath.

"Well!" Merlin mused. "This is not the kind of assistant I thought I was going to be." He joked nervously.

"Me either." Arthur agreed. "I'm not complaining."

Merlin bit his bottom lip, looking like he was thinking but all Arthur was thinking was he would like to do that as well. Merlin's lips were just as plush as he had imagined and biting them would just be so enjoyable.

"Down boy." Merlin laughed, snapping Arthur out of it. "How about you buy me dinner before you start letting your mind wander off like that?"

"Are you proposing a date?" Merlin went even redder. "Because that actually sounds delightful." Arthur smiled, even more when Merlin lit up.

"Well now that you've talked me into it~" Merlin grinned playfully, pressing a short kiss to Arthur's lips. "Shall we?"

"Mm, yes."

After they actually found the will to pull away from each other and gather their things for the night, they headed out into the cool night air. Now it was nearly nine at night and they would have to find a diner, but they didn't mind at all. It took only half a block before their fingers were interlocked and they were smiling bashfully like children at each other. Arthur held the door open for Merlin, which was nothing new, but he made a show of it this time. Merlin laughed as he walked in, shaking his head.

"It really must have been destiny." He mused as they headed to their seats.

"Must have been." Arthur replied, kissing Merlin's cheek before they sat down.


End file.
